QUESTION
Please can you give me some advice on restoring my credit, I have no CCJ’s or defaults but my wife had a break down and never sent off the election forms, please can you tell me if and how I can get around this problem.
Reply
The registration of both your names on the electoral list is important where credit is involved: but only the named borrower is relevant in each case. In some cases, you will lose points where automated scoring is used, and in high volume credit companies the time it takes to manually administer the loan proposal is not cost effective: i.e. coming back to you with a query as to your non-listing on the register would be unlikely. Using your own bank/building society should not prove any problem as these lenders are (at the moment) more inclined to provide a personal service than, say, a lender that you are using for the first time.
I suggest that you:
- Telephone your council to find out the quickest way to get your name on the electoral list,
- Telephone lenders in advance of any loan application and ask them to suggest the best way to deal with your problem: they will probably all be different - some may refuse outright. My own lender experience has been to request Council Charge documents, and to see if you have a credit record established at your address. If the borrower is also the mortgage holder the need for electoral information is of secondary importance.
Many thanks to Colin Duguid of Debt 24.com who is taking the time to provide this information as a service to homeworkers.
